Carrying handles for portable articles



Oct. 22, 1963 w STOREY 3,107,761

CARRYING HANDLES FOR PORTABLE ARTICLES Filed July 18, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l )A/ VENTOR aha/$1 KOEZKT S70E67 gems! 7 Oct. 22, 1963 w. R. STOREY 3, 07 7 CARRYING HANDLES FOR PORTABLE ARTICLES Filed July 18, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet} //v VENTOR U/Lu/m Keener 5702a] er; 3

I76 EMT United States Patent 3,1tl7,76l CARRYING HANDLES FOR PGRTABLE ARTIQLES William R. Storey, I-Ioclrley, Birmingham, England, as-

signor to C. W. Cheney 3: Son Limited, Birmingham, England Filed July 18, 1961, Ser. No. 124,866 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 22 1960 6 Claims. (Cl. 1%58) This invention relates to carrying handles for portable articles such as travel bags, boxes, trunks, attach cases and the like, hereinafter referred to as bags, and is particularly concerned with the hinged mountings for such handles.

Usually, a handle for a bag consists of a looped portion which is hingedly connected at its ends to two spaced mountings by means of hinge pins engaging posts which project perpendicularly from the top side of plates forming part of the mountings. Various methods of connecting handles to attachment plates have been suggested but they suffer from the disadvantages that they are either expensive to manufacture and assemble, or are insufli ciently rigid with the result that with loaded travel bags, the ends of the handle become disconnected from the hinge pins, or the posts become misaligned, thus rendering the handle ineflicient.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and economically manufactured hinged mounting.

In accordance with the present invention, a hinged mounting for a bag handle comprises at least one post made as a hollow pressing of sheet metal and provided with flanges said post extending through an aperture in an attachment plate and having its flanges seated on the said plate so as to prevent movement of the post relative to the plate in one direction the plate having an integral lug which seats on the post and prevents movement of the latter in the opposite direction.

In order that the invention may be better understood and carried into practice, one preferred embodiment will now be particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of a hinged mounting for a bag handle;

FIGURE 2 is an underside plan of the mounting shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line IIIIII FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line IV-IV FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an underside plan similar to FIGURE 2 but showing part of the mounting prior to final assembly thereof;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of one part of the mounting; and

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a complete bag handle.

The mounting shown in the drawing comprises an attachment plate 1% which is generally oval in plan (see FIGURES 2 and 5) and which is formed as a pressing or stamping from sheet metal, having an integral peripherally extending skirt 11 which is generally normal to the plate, and a pair of spaced apertured hollows 12, 13 for the reception of attachment screws (not shown).

The plate also has a pair of oval apertures 14, 15 which are formed so that the major axes of the ovals are transverse to the major axis of the oval plate, these apertures lying between the screw apertures l2, 13. A lug I5, 17 formed integrally with the plate 1% extends normally of the plate, in the same direction as the skirt II, and from one of the straight edges of each aperture I4, 15.

The mounting further comprises a pair of hollow posts 18 each made as a pressing from sheet metal. The posts are of the same cross-sectional shape as the plate apertures 14, 15 have aligned holes 19 (FIGURE 4) formed in each side-wall, and have integral out-turned feet or flanges 20. As best shown in FIGURE 2, the flanges are arranged in pairs extending in opposite directions, all lying in a plane generally parallel to the plate. The posts are made by first pressing a metal strip into U-section, and then folding the longitudinal axis of the strip also into U-shape so as to bring opposite ends of the strip side-by-side with the troughs on each side opening towards one another. FIGURE 6 shows one finished post ready for assembly to the plate It).

The posts are projected through the apertures in the plate and assembled to the plate with the flanges on the underside of the plate, that is, bounded by the skirt 11, the flanges seating on the plate and preventing further movement of the posts relative to the plate in the direction of arrow A, FIGURE 1. The posts are then locked in position and movement in the opposite direction to that of arrow A is prevented by the lugs 16, 17, which lie between the respective flanges of pairs on the respective posts and are bent or joggled so as to extend across the lower end edge of each post so as to project across the hollow posts in a plane generally parallel to that of the plate as best shown in FIGURES 2 and 4.

The complete bag handle shown in FIGURE 7 consists of a handle proper made as a moulding in polyethylene or other suitable resiliently deformable but tough material, said handle comprising a looped portion 25 terminating in parallel arms 26 each of which has a coaxial hole therethrough. A mounting as above described with reference to FIGURES 1-6 is hingedly attached to each of the said parallel arms by a respective hinge-pin 27 which extends to and between the two posts of the mounting through holes 19, and is riveted over at its ends as at 28. FIGURE 1 shows a hinge-pin riveted over at its ends, although the mounting shown in FIGURE 1 is not shown as attached to a handle; this figure therefore is merely intended to illustrate the position which the hinge-pin will occupy when the complete handle is assembled as shown in FIGURE 7.

I claim:

1. A hinged mounting fora bag handle comprising at least one post made as a hollow pressing of sheet metal and provided with flanges said post extending through an aperture in an attachment plate and having its flanges seated on the said plate so. as to prevent movement of the post relative to the plate in one direction the plate having an integral lug which seats on the post and prevents movement of the latter in the opposite direction.

2. A mounting as claimed in claim 1, wherein said post has at least one pair of flanges which are spaced apart and project from the post side-by-side, the said lug being disposed between these flanges.

3. A mounting as claimed in claim 2, wherein a pair of posts are provided each having two pairs of diametrically disposed flanges seated upon an underface of the plate, the latter having a pair of lugs which extend away from each other to lie under the respective hollow posts and across edges of the latter between pairs of said flanges.

4. A mounting as claimed in claim 3, wherein the plate has a downwardly directed peripheral skirt, and attachment holes disposed between the respective opposite ends of the plate and the posts.

5. A bag handle comprising a pair of hinged mountings as claimed in claim 3 each hingedly connected to a rer 3 spective end of the handle by a pivot pin passing through References Cited in the file of this patent the handle and engaged at each end in one of the posts. UNITED STATES PATENTS 6. A mounting as claimed in claim 1 wherein the or each post comprises a strip of metal which has been bent 62,419 Bowen 1925 into a U-section and then folded to bring opposite end 5 FOREIGN PATENTS portions of the U side-by-side, the said flanges being formed by bending the said side-by-side ends. 862071 Great Bntam 

1. A HINGED MOUNTING FOR A BAG HANDLE COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE POST MADE AS A HOLLOW PRESSURE OF SHEET METAL AND PROVIDED WITH FLANGES SAID POST EXTENDING THROUGH AN APERTURE IN AN ATTACHMENT PLATE AND HAVING ITS FLANGES SEATED ON THE SAID PLATE SO AS TO PREVENT MOVEMENT OF THE POST RELATIVE TO THE PLATE IN ONE DIRECTION THE PLATE HAVING AN INTEGRAL LUG WHICH SEATS ON THE POST AND PREVENTS MOVEMENT OF THE LATTER IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. 